Here are the best games to put your new GPU through its paces.
When you’ve splashed out on one of the best graphics cards (opens in new tab) around, naturally you’re going to want to push it to its limit with the flashiest looking games. You want those freakishly realistic textures, ray-traced reflections you can stare at all day and lighting so good you’ll wear down your screenshot button.
I managed to snag a 3080 Ti this year, inspiring me to download all my most fetching games just to gawk at. My PC has transformed into a showcase of stunning worlds where I’ve become a tourist, just taking snaps and trying to justify the expense of a GPU in this era of shortages. If you’re in the same boat, allow me to lend you a hand with some recommendations. Here are the best games to show off your new GPU. Assassin’s Creed Valhalla
(Image credit: Ubisoft)
Release date: November 10, 2020 | Developer: Ubisoft Montreal | Epic Games Store (opens in new tab), Ubisoft Store (opens in new tab)
Britain (and a bit of France and Norway) has never looked this good before. Assassin’s Creed Valhalla (opens in new tab) could almost trick you into thinking it’s a nice place to live. It’s a technical and aesthetic marvel, offering up some of the most striking vistas you’ll see on your PC. As you run and ride across the sprawling map, you’ll see absurd distances while maintaining a surprising amount of detail, with the views made all the better by too-good-to-be-true lighting.
Despite not taking advantage of all your GPU’s bells and whistles—there are no ray tracing options, for instance—it’s still a singularly striking game that depends on a powerful GPU to get everything out of. With my old 1080 Ti—still a great card—I had to make a few concessions here and there to get a stable 60fps at 1440p, but with my 3080 Ti there aren’t really any hurdles.
Battlefield 5
Release date: November 20, 2018 | Developer: DICE | Origin (opens in new tab), Steam (opens in new tab)
While Battlefield 5 (opens in new tab) is no longer the newest game in the series, the poor response to Battlefield 2042 means its predecessor is a more tempting offer, and thankfully still looks exceptional. It was one of the first games to take advantage of ray tracing, which brings the carnage up to a whole new level, letting you admire the way that the fire reflects off the chassis of a ruined vehicle, or the way the light hits the bombed-out battlefield.
DLSS uses machine-learning magic to create an image close to the native resolution but with far fewer pixels, potentially giving you a significant performance boost with a low visual cost. It wasn’t available in Battlefield straight away, but it was eventually patched in, letting you enjoy the flashy effects without a huge performance hit even if your RTX card isn’t a powerhouse. Because it’s from the early days of ray tracing, the effect is subtle, but if you’ve got a capable card you won’t want to be without it. Control
(Image credit: Remedy)
Release date: August 27, 2019 | Developer: Remedy | Epic Games Store (opens in new tab), Steam (opens in new tab)
Control (opens in new tab) is often cited as the game that sold people on ray tracing. The minimalist aesthetic of the Oldest House, all concrete and shiny floors, really lets you see the impact immediately. It’s a lot more noticeable than it is with other games on this list, genuinely having a transformative effect on the eerie building. With fewer visual distractions, you can really see the power of your GPU.
The moody lighting also really benefits from ray tracing. So much drama and tension are created by just a single bright light in a dark room, and Control is full of scenes like this. It’s still a looker without ray tracing, if you want to achieve the highest possible fps, but if you’ve got an Nvidia GPU you can find a nice middle ground with DLSS. Cyberpunk 2077
(Image credit: CD Projekt/Petri Levälahti)
Release date: December 10, 2020 | Developer: CD Projekt Red | Epic Games Store (opens in new tab), GOG (opens in new tab), Steam (opens in new tab)
Despite its incredibly rough launch—something that CDPR is still reckoning with more than a year later—there’s no denying that Cyberpunk 2077 (opens in new tab) is a game bursting with eye candy.
